Big Book of Writing

Spei Lunae Novum (Soraeda, SDRA2)

Art trade for a friend on Discord! I hope they like it!

Warning: spoilers for the true ending and Side Story #1: Queen of Despair!

***

Opening his eyes, Yuki yawned as he sat up in bed. The rain that had pattered against the roof of the motel he sheltered in had calmed slightly, leaving a comforting background noise to the lucky student.

It had been a month or so after the Utsuroshima incident had occurred, yet Yuki couldn't get used to his new body for the life of him. Of course, it was much better than being a brain in a jar. But having to avoid looking in mirrors or looking down at his naked body because it had belonged to a woman who helped ruin his life, not to mention was the body belonging to his AI friend based off that woman, was unbearably awkward for him.

Yuki looked down at his clothes and sighed, mentally reminding himself that he would need to wash them later. He got up from the bed and donned his grey coat, adjusting it to fit comfortably and obscure his identity. It was time to start the day.

Before he left the motel, he decided to stop at the check-in centre and get a pack of snacks as his breakfast. He knew that if he wanted food right now, he could get it without money, but he wanted to retain as much of his normalcy as possible at this point.

When he went into the centre, he took out some yen and got some snacks from the vending machine. He would rather have that kind of food than the motel breakfasts, which were often stale rations after the Tragedy. The world was getting back to normal, but it wasn't a fast process.

"Goodness, the rain just keeps on pouring," he heard an old lady lament, who he guessed was the motel owner. "The roads might get worse at this point."

This was where Yuki could help, he had ended up causing it after all. "The forecaster said it was going to clear up today," he lied, and he took his snacks from the vending machine. As he made his way towards the door, the sun began to shine again.

Yuki didn't know how to control his new power, the Divine Luck. He didn't think that Utsuro fully knew how either, but that was just his theory. However, he wanted to try and use his luck to fix the world, to undo the damage that Junko Enoshima ended up causing.

While on his wandering path, reversing what Utsuro had helped create in the end, Yuki slept from motel to motel across the Japan. He was thinking about leaving the country once most of the damage here was fixed, but his only friends left were all here, so he was on the fence about it.

What Yuki really wanted most was normalcy and a normal life. "Pretty hard to be normal when you've got the power of a god," he muttered to himself, wandering the roads and looking for something to do.

He didn't want to end up like the ever-bored Utsuro, who only helped people out of curiosity and to kill time, so he kept himself occupied by helping people out of his own goodwill. After all, Yuki wanted to pay Sora back for saving him by making the world a better place.

The lucky student grimaced as he thought of her. She was his best friend, but they had only met in a killing game that was meant to break his psyche and turn his mind into something else. She may have only been created as a tool for the game, but she gave him her body and told him to keep living. And Shinji had said the same thing too.

Yuki groaned and dug his nails into his arm to snap him out of his thoughts. He needed to find something to do to distract him from his memories, at least until he could get to Yoruko's place and talk to her again.

As he kept walking along, he saw some children playing in an empty neighbourhood street with a ball. One of them accidentally kicked it over to him, and he kicked it back to them with an amused smile. He went back to looking down at his feet, where a lot of rainwater and mud slightly covered the lowland road.

But the more Yuki looked at his feet, the more something seemed off to him. His footsteps didn't sound like they did on the main road, even though he thought it was the mud at first. They sounded rather...hollow beneath his feet.

When he looked closer at the road, there was a thin crack that seemed to be slowly getting bigger as the mud and water slowly trickled into it. Yuki looked around the road for more cracks, and found a spiderweb of them on the ground beneath where the children were playing.

He quickly intervened, hurrying over to the kids. "Hey, this part of the road isn't safe right now. You should play over there," he urged, quickly herding them away from the cracks. When they were a couple steps away from the cracks, there was a sudden crumbling sound behind them. When Yuki turned around, he saw that the road had caved in and made a deep hole.

Yuki guessed that his power had prevented the concrete from collapsing before he got the kids away safely. He turned to the children, who stared at the hole in bewilderment. "Hey. Go find your parents, and tell them to call someone to fix the sinkhole in the road," he instructed, and he watched the children run to the nearest house.

He could hear their chatter, but he didn't stick around to meet their parents. By the time they came out to inspect the damage, Yuki would be far away from here. He didn't want anyone to worship him for saving children or anyone else.

A sudden pang of fear struck him as he hurried around a corner to another road: would he become the next Utsuro with how he used his luck? It was a frequent question, so the fear felt normal to him. He didn't want anyone to become fanatical towards him like Akane Taira, or even worse, like Mikado Sannoji.

This fear was always soothed by Sora's promise to him and everyone else: "Divine Luck is currently contained in Akane Taira's avatar...in me... With the help of the Neo World Program, I'll contain all of the Divine Luck. ...I'm only preventing it from spreading to others. The world will remain the same and won't be impacted by Divine Luck."

Remembering her words made his fears easier to bear. With no one using his power as a lifeline, then he won't be sought out by another 'Void' group wanting a blessing. He could help change the world and make it better, for the sake of everyone who died.

As he walked into a busy area in a town, he found that his feet were getting a little sore. When he looked around, he saw a little cafe with only a couple people sitting at the tables inside. He decided to head inside, but the shady decor made him wonder if the owner was a remnant of despair.

He sat down and began to look at the menu, but he overheard a conversation between a chef behind the counter and a patron. "Hey, have you heard? Something's about to turn the tides of hope and despair," the chef gossiped.

"So I've heard. Isn't it that inhuman girl I've heard around? The Queen of Despair."

Yuki raised his menu up to obscure his face, but he was listening carefully to that conversation.

"From what I know, her name is Iroha Nijiue. She was part of a group that killed the Next Generation Symbols of Hope and a Kisaragi executive, and she managed to deceive and kill that 'Broker H' that tricked her group's leader. Now she travels around with a servant and commits atrocities."

"Is that true? If it is, she might become the next Junko Enoshima! Is she leading the remnants?"

"It seems that there's people rallying around her, calling her 'Junko Enoshima the third' or the 'Next Generation Symbol of Despair'. She asks for pricey aid money, but if you can pay, she lets you into the new generation of despair..."

"Shit, I'd pay just to get a glimpse of her! If only I could find her hideout, I'd give anything to see despair rise again."

That was all Yuki could stand hearing. After the group had caused Utsuro to target him and ruined the world, the lucky student hated them all. As he left the cafe, he could hear the sounds of the roof crumbling, burying the two remnants inside.

But from what they were talking about, it seemed that Iroha was up to something. But he knew she couldn't kill Syobai in a thousand years, so they must be working together...probably because of the aid money. Either way, it was causing trouble.

Yuki took a deep breath and cleared his mind. His trip to Yoruko's place would have to take a slight detour. With no destination in mind aside from an objective, he began walking up the street. He was going to pay this 'Queen of Despair' a small visit.

***

Art credit: Kurohaneame on twitter